FIFA ponders extra Suarez punishment

JOHANNESBURG - FIFA's disciplinary committee will meet to decide whether Uruguay striker Luis Suarez should face extra punishment for a deliberate handball on the goalline in their quarter-final against Ghana.

Published

3 July 2010

He will already be banned for one match but a two-game suspension - if FIFA take that course of action - could rule him out of the July 11 World Cup final should Uruguay win their semi against Netherlands.

Suarez, who was red carded, used his hands to beat out a header by Ghana's Dominic Adiyiah on Friday in Soccer City, denying the Africans a last-minute extra-time goal that would have earned them a spot in the semi-finals.

Uruguay went on to win the game 4-2 on penalties after Ghana missed the spot-kick from the Suarez infringement.

FIFA spokesman Pekka Odriozola said on Saturday that following the direct red card, Suarez would sit out Uruguay's semi-final game against the Dutch in Cape Town on Tuesday.

"Also the disciplinary committee opens a case for any automatic red card in any match which means the disciplinary committee will be looking at the incident and they will take a decision," Odriozola told a news briefing.

"At the moment we don't have any timing on when they (the committee) will meet to take that decision," he added.

Suarez has said he had no choice but to handle the ball and prevent the ball entering the net and does not feel any guilt about it.